FROM GREAT TO GOOD
Moving from searching for greatness to seeking goodness
We have lots of information about the apostle Paul and his work in the
early church but we have far less about the person this sermon
honors—Barnabas. We will quickly admit
that, among the figures who founded the Christian church the apostle Paul is
one of the great lights. Barnabas is one
of those lesser lights who also played a role—indeed without Barnabas’ lesser
role we may have never known of Paul’s greatness. This sermon is about Barnabas, “a good man.”
When the believers were dispersed by the persecution connected with the
stoning of Stephen apparently some unknown disciples tried something new: they
did not restrict their preaching to Jews alone, but also shared the gospel with
the gentiles in Antioch Some of these gentiles believed and
the news traveled back to the church headquarters in Jerusalem.
Whenever somebody does something new and different the headquarters usually
hears about it. Gentiles were becoming believers! This new approach raised new issues for the
fledgling church leaders. Could gentiles
really be believers? How did a
gentile become a believer—just by believing? Were they just adding Christ to
their other gods, or did they understand there was only one God and Jesus
Christ was that incarnate God-in-flesh?
Were they claiming belief yet continuing their sinful life or had their
lives really changed? If
their lives had actually changed, how much had they changed and how fast? Were they converting to Christ and Judaism
too, or were they skipping Judaism completely and “going direct” to Christ? Can
one become a Christian direct without first becoming a Jew? If so, then how much of the Jewish “holiness
lifestyle” should these gentile believers be expected to adopt? These and other questions occupied the minds
of the church headquarters when they heard there were gentiles in Antioch claiming
to be believers. It was an issue that would not settle easily. Years later,
when the first great council met in Jerusalem to decide these things, even then
it would not get fully settled.
The Jerusalem church leaders couldn’t decide these things on hearsay. They
needed a reliable eye witness. So they
chose Barnabas and sent him to Antioch as their inspector. Luke then adds “24He was a good man, full
of the Holy Spirit and faith,”
I. WHY WAS BARNABAS
CONSIDERED “GOOD?”
Barnabas was a good man. What
does that mean? What does it mean to be “a
good man”?
1.
BARNABAS WAS GOOD WHEN IT
CAME TO MONEY
a. Barnabas’
first appearance is as a generous giver.
Generosity is evidence of goodness.
Barnabas was good with money. It fits with later references:
36Joseph,
a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of
Encouragement), 37sold a field he owned and brought the money and put
it at the apostles' feet. (Acts 4:35-37)
b. Barnabas
was careful to avoid charges of ministerial-moneymaking. In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul includes Barnabas
describing him as a self-supporting apostle:
c. Barnabas
was trustworthy in handling money for others. When the Jerusalem
Christians faced a famine the Antioch Christians raised an offering and trusted
Barnabas to carry it to Jerusalem.
29The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to
provide help for the brothers living in Judea. 30This they did,
sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul. (Acts 11: 29-30)
Barnabas
was a good man—he was good with money…
-he
was a generous giver himself,
-he
was careful in making money off his ministry,
-and
he was trustworthy in handling money of
others.
How we handle money is a sign of our goodness. A GREAT man or
woman may be a stingy giver, make tons of money off their ministry and be
sloppy in handing the money of others—but not a GOOD man or woman. Barnabas was a good man—he handled money
well.
Why else would Luke
label Barnabas a “good man?”
2.
BARNABAS SPONSORED OUTSIDERS
Barnabas himself was the consummate insider. He was probably an older
man, highly respected by the Jerusalem inner circle. Yet this insider was
constantly bringing outsiders into the inner circle.
a. Barnabas sponsored
the new convert Saul to the Jerusalem inner circle. (Acts 9:26-28)
26When he [Saul]
came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were
all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27But Barnabas took him and
brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the
Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached
fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28So
Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in
the name of the Lord.
-Perhaps this is why he is called the “son of encouragement”(Acts 4:36) He was always encouraging others—bringing
outsiders into the inner circle.
-This “son of encouragement” traveled with a “son of thunder.” Sons of
thunder make a scene, get themselves stoned, and make noise everywhere they go.
Sons of encouragement quietly bring the outsiders inside.
b. Barnabas
sponsored Paul again—this time to the Antioch church. (Acts
9:25-26)
Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and
when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and
Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were
called Christians first at Antioch.
-When Barnabas was at his peak leading the Antioch revival among gentiles
he left! He traveled to Tarsus and
brought the outsider Paul sponsoring him for induction into the inner circle of
the Antioch church. Apparently it worked—Paul became one of the five inner
circle leaders of “prophets and teachers” in that church.
c. Barnabas
sponsored the entire gentile community to the Jerusalem council.
(Acts 15)
When the church leaders met to determine how much law the gentiles had to
submit to, Barnabas along with Paul made the case that gentiles did not have to
become Jews to become Christians. While
one might imagine Paul giving the greater speech but I suspect the respect
Barnabas held with the Jerusalem leaders may have had more to do with the
outcome.
Barnabas was a good man. Though
an insider himself, he was always sponsoring outsiders to the inside. A good
man or woman is “inclusive.”
3.
BARNABAS WAS PATIENT WITH OTHERS
a.
Barnabas gave John mark a second chance. (Acts 15:36-29)
36Some time later Paul said to
Barnabas, "Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we
preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing." 37Barnabas wanted to take John,
also called Mark, with them, 38but
Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39They had such a sharp
disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for
Cyprus,
- Sons of encouragement seldom blow their stack. But
when they do it is while protecting the people they’re sponsoring. Paul was one of those one-strike-and-you’re-out type leaders. Barnabas had more
patience than that. When Paul refused to allow Mark to accompany them on the
second missionary journey Barnabas stood up for Mark—even was willing to break
up their missionary partnership over it. I don’t know if you ever blew it. But
if you have, you can appreciate Barnabas’ backbone. Standing up to the apostle
Paul took guts. And because of it we may have the first gospel—the Gospel of
Mark. Barnabas was a good man—he was
patient with future leaders.
b.
Barnabas was patient with both sides in the Antioch incident. (Galatians 2:11-14)
We are hampered at understanding
this early “church fight” because we only have one side of the story
preserved—Paul’s take on the incident. Until some conservatives showed up from
Jerusalem the Jewish Christians in Antioch had abandoned the practice of eating
separately from gentiles. But when the conservatives showed up, and started
setting up separate Jewish tables, for all Jews know you can’t eat with
gentiles—it was a central “membership commitment.”
Peter and Barnabas joined the Jewish
Christians in their separate eating conviction. Paul went ballistic. He confronted Peter in front of the whole
assembly embarrassing him and publicly labeled Barnabas and Paul and hypocrites.
We don’t know if it worked—if the Jewish Christians caved in and ignored their
membership commitments or not. We only know how Paul handled the situation. We
don’t even know how Barnabas reacted. But given Barnabas’ character I suspect
he was patient with thunderous Paul and the scene he caused. And we do know
from Paul’s report that Barnabas was patient with Peter and the conservatives—maybe
he had joined them figuring it would take a little more time before they
realized the full implication of the gospel.
Barnabas was a good man… he was
patient with young ministers like Mark who had blown it, and he was patient
with conservatives, liberals, and even the bombastic Paul and his public
tantrum. Goodness and patience are related.
è There are other incidents that describe Barnabas and why Luke saw fit to
call him “good” but these are at least three of them:
“Barnabas was a good man.”
II. SO, DO YOU SEEK TO BE GOOD… or would you rather be great?
So, do you
seek to be good? Many in the
church today are more interested in being great than being good.
Which would you rather be—good or great?
Goodness has
fallen out of style in today’s success-oriented church. Greatness is in. We
want to be a great leader, build a great church, have a great convention or
become a great seminary. But what of goodness? Greatness has more to do with fame, and size,
and worldly success. Goodness has to do with moral excellence. Would you rather
be great or good?
We have made
good lesser than great. Church leaders have adopted Jim Collins values—we
believe we need to move from “Good to Great” as if goodness is inferior to
greatness. In our language games goodness is second place. When a minister dies
of whom we have little to praise we say, “He was a good man.” By that we mean
he wasn’t really great—he was merely good. For us, goodness is second place-a
consolation prize for people who never achieve greatness.
But in the
upside-down values of the Kingdom of God goodness is to be sought before
greatness. A great leader can be good—but it is not automatic. Remember the
most common names in history to which we have assigned the term “great” –Alexander
the Great and Herod the great, neither of whom were in any sense
good.
We would
like to think that goodness brings greatness, but that also is a myth. There
are plenty of good men and women who will never be known as great. There are
plenty of good churches who will never be known as great churches. Only a
relatively few churches can ever be considered “great.” If they do achieve greatness in reputation,
not long after some other church will be considered greater… and these churches
and pastors will soon disappear from the rosters of convention speakers.
Greatness is a fickle thing. If you seek to become great you may achieve it—but
even then it will be fleeting. There is not much room at the top of the
pinnacle of greatness.
But there is
unlimited room for goodness. Every church can become a good church. Every
pastor can become a good pastor—morally good to the core. You and your church might or might not one
day be considered great. But every person here today and every church
represented can be good—morally good to the core. What we need today is a
reversal of values. We need pastors and church leaders who seek to be good—like
Barnabas. Ordinary people can become good. Even great people can become good.
Perhaps we need a new book that reverses Jim Collins’ title—a book titled “From
Great to Good” which is the title of this message?
We have
heard dozens of seminars and workshops
on how to build a great church an be a great leader. What
we need now is help in how to build a good
church—a church full of good people doing good things with good motives.
III. SO
HOW DO WE BECOME GOOD?
If you buy the central thesis of this sermon—that goodness is more
valuable than greatness—then how do we become good?
Luke has given us a hint in the phrase following our text:
Acts 11:24 He
was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and
faith, and a
great number of people were brought to the Lord
Greatness might be achieved by hard work, image management, or sound
business practices. Goodness can only
be gotten from the Holy Spirit. Goodness is a fruit of the Spirit. Rather than seeking first to become great perhaps
we should seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Greatness may follow in this
life or not. Greatness is optional… goodness is indispensable. Greatness is
wonderful if it comes, but few find it and it seldom lasts. Goodness lasts. Goodness
is available to every one of us. Besides, seeking greatness may get you the
ultimate curse—greatness without goodness.
However, seeking the Spirit’s work in your life might bring you into a
life of goodness. Maybe greatness will follow with is a bonus. It would be nice to be both…after all, we say
of God Himself in prayer: “God is great, God is good.
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My prayer for you as you pursue a seminary
degree us that you will seek first the goodness of the kingdom of God—and then
if greatness is added unto you as you go along, so much the better!
Sermon by Keith Drury delivered at the first
convocation of Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan Seminary, August, 2009.